Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability, et al. v. U.S. Department of Interior, et al.
Flocks of California gnatcatchers need no federal protection
The federal government has expanded its reach using the Endangered Species Act to cover spurious “subspecies.” The ESA does not define “subspecies” and the Fish and Wildlife Service has offered no definition of its own. Instead, it simply announces when it has determined a “subspecies” to exist and, relying on the subspecies’ smaller numbers relative to the entire species, imposes onerous regulations. The California gnatcatcher was listed as a threatened subspecies, but a 2013 study shows that, at a DNA level, the songbird is not meaningfully distinct from millions of gnatcatchers dwelling in Baja California. PLF represents a coalition of property owners, developers, and scientists in a challenge to the continued listing of this thriving species.
California Sea Urchin Commission v. Combs
Separation of powers at stake in battle over agency otter rule
When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked Congress for permission in the 1980s to introduce sea otters into Southern California waters, Congress agreed but required protections for lawful fishing activity. In 2012, the Service declared that they would no longer honor the fishing industry protections. On behalf of sea urchin and abalone divers, lobster trappers, and other fishermen, PLF asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case to enforce the separation of powers in the Constitution. The Supreme Court denied the petition on October 29, 2018.
Brott v. United States
Jury trial sought in rails-to-trails regulatory takings case
Kevin Brott owns land in Muskegon, Michigan. In 1886, a railroad obtained a right-of-way easement across his land. When the railroad ceased operation, the easement terminated and full ownership of the land returned to the owner. The federal government, however, invoking the National Trails System Act and related regulations, nullified Brott’s right to his land and encumbered it with a new easement for a public recreational trail under the perpetual jurisdiction of a federal agency. Brott sued for compensation in the district court in Michigan and requested a jury to determine the amount. The court refused to hear his case and sent him to the Court of Federal Claims, an executive-branch court that does not allow jury trials. PLF supports Brott as amicus curiae.
WildEarth Guardians v. Department of Justice
Unintentional, accidental “take” of species should not be a crime
A radical environmental group challenged the government’s interpretation of the Endangered Species Act. Because the ESA’s criminal penalties apply only you “knowingly” take a protected species, the government reasonably interprets this to mean that you must know that your actions will cause take and the identity of the species affected. PLF intervened on behalf of several southwestern agricultural organizations that fear imprisonment for innocent mistakes that inadvertently “take” anyone of the thousands of federally-protected species. If the radical interpretation succeeds, people could go to jail for accidentally striking an unknown, endangered insect while driving down the highway.
Armstrong v. Kadas
Supporting school choice for all – Christians included
PLF represents parents of a child in a faith-based school and an association of Christian schools in a challenge to a regulation implementing Montana’s scholarship tax credit law. The regulation forbids religiously affiliated schools from participating in the tax credit program. PLF challenged the regulation as violating the First Amendment’s protection for freedom of religion and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the law. The federal court dismissed the case pending a state court’s decision in a related case. PLF appealed the abstention to the Ninth Circuit. The state court struck down the regulation and the state appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.
Gerawan Farming v. Agricultural Labor Relations Board
California unconstitutionally imposes mandatory arbitration for labor contracts in the agricultural sector
Gerawan Farming is a family-owned company that grows grapes and stone fruit in the San Joaquin Valley. Unique in the nation, a California statute compels agricultural employers and their employees’ unions to assent to collective bargaining agreements. Rather than being negotiated at arm’s length, these agreements’ terms are dictated to the parties by a “mediator” who has nearly unlimited discretion to compel the parties’ assent to whatever terms the mediator wishes. A California appellate court struck down this scheme that imposed an unwanted “agreement” on Gerawan, but the California Supreme Court granted review. Representing an array of agricultural and constitutional liberty groups, PLF filed an amicus brief arguing that this compulsory regime is unconstitutional.
American Beverage Association v. City and County of San Francisco
San Francisco’s tactics in its war on soda violate the First Amendment
A San Francisco ordinance requires advertisements related to sugar-sweetened beverages to devote 20% of the space to city-specified speech: “WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay. This is a message from the City and County of San Francisco.” A coalition of beverage trade associations sued the city for violating their First Amendment right not to be forced to express messages with which they disagree. The district court upheld the ordinance and the coalition appealed. PLF filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit arguing that the ordinance must be subjected to heightened scrutiny and fails to pass constitutional muster.
State of Wyoming v. Zinke
Bureau of Land Management threatens to end fracking boom
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) purports to regulate all “hydraulic fracturing” – fracking – on federal lands based on the potential impacts of fracking to underground drinking water sources, despite the fact that Congress’s Energy Policy Act lets states, not federal agencies, decide how best to regulate fracking’s potential groundwater impacts. BLM denied that the Energy Policy Act undermines its claim of authority, because the statute doesn’t expressly prohibit it from adopting this regulation. The trial court scrutinized this bureaucratic expansion of power and struck down the unlawful regulation. PLF supports the frackers as they defend the lower court decision in the Tenth Circuit.
Epic Systems, Inc. v. Lewis
Victory! Supreme Court rules for freedom of contract
Under its terms of employment, Epic Systems, Inc. required that employees agree to handle any workplace dispute individually. This meant waiving any future class-action or collective arbitration—a freedom of contract protected by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Lower courts disagreed, saying the company’s one-on-one arbitration agreement and class-action waiver violated the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) protection of concerted activities for workers’ mutual benefit. At the request of Epic Systems, PLF filed a friend of the court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if the NLRA trumps the FAA. On May 21, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Epic and the freedom of contract.